After sending His Son to die of the cross to take all of our punishment, just to redeem us and win us BACK to Himself? Could there be any question? Our concept of God comes from Judaism, specifically Abraham which Christianity, Judaism and Islam all claim as a patriarch--but only Christians regard Jesus as the Son of God. Although I do not believe Islam to be a legitimate religious belief because of its inherent Mohammad-inspired violence, I am somewhat of a universalism Christian in that I believe everyone who strives for a Jesus-like life of goodness and mercy has a chance at salvation but the question today is how many are leading such a life? I think that God the Father is mighty P.O.ed with us in allowing Satan so much control (i.e. look at deteriorating American families, entertainment venues where sex and violence dominate, porn, drugs, alcohol, crime, AIDs, etc., etc., and, giving the devil his due, such avoidance of evil things is the only reason that I give Muslims credit with certain religious tenets and practices). So the question really is a question.
I am somewhat of a universalism Christian in that I believe everyone who strives for a Jesus-like life of goodness and mercy has a chance at salvation but the question today is how many are leading such a life? Actually according to Jesus Christ Himself, salvation is a free gift, that nobody could possibly earn by good works of any kind.
A gift that He's paid for totally and completely and gladly gives to ANYONE who will simply believe in and trust Him.
That means none of us will have any excuse whatsoever for missing out on salvation, EXCEPT for outright and consistant rejection of God. Period.
I am somewhat of a universalism Christian in that I believe everyone who strives for a Jesus-like life of goodness and mercy has a chance at salvation but the question today is how many are leading such a life?
Short answer: No - with qualifiers ;^)
NIV Matthew 9:9-13
9. As Jesus went on from there, he saw a man named Matthew sitting at the tax collector's booth. "Follow me," he told him, and Matthew got up and followed him.
10. While Jesus was having dinner at Matthew's house, many tax collectors and "sinners" came and ate with him and his disciples.
11. When the Pharisees saw this, they asked his disciples, "Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and `sinners'?"
12. On hearing this, Jesus said, "It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick.
13. But go and learn what this means: `I desire mercy, not sacrifice.' For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners."
NIV Matthew 11:19
The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, `Here is a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and "sinners." ' But wisdom is proved right by her actions."
NIV Matthew 21:31-32
31. "Which of the two did what his father wanted?" "The first," they answered. Jesus said to them, "I tell you the truth, the tax collectors and the prostitutes are entering the kingdom of God ahead of you.
32. For John came to you to show you the way of righteousness, and you did not believe him, but the tax collectors and the prostitutes did. And even after you saw this, you did not repent and believe him.
NIV Luke 3:12-13
12. Tax collectors also came to be baptized. "Teacher," they asked, "what should we do?"
13. "Don't collect any more than you are required to," he told them.
NIV Luke 18:9-14
9. To some who were confident of their own righteousness and looked down on everybody else, Jesus told this parable:
10. "Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector.
11. The Pharisee stood up and prayed about himself: `God, I thank you that I am not like other men--robbers, evildoers, adulterers--or even like this tax collector.
12. I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.'
13. "But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, `God, have mercy on me, a sinner.'
14. "I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted."